For first time in 400 years, men allowed to enter this Odisha temple

Odisha: For the first time in four centuries, men were allowed to touch the five idols in Ma Panchuburahi temple in Odisha’s Kendrapara district for a day on April 20. The temple is a no entry zone for men and only Dalit women have rights to perform the rituals and touch the deities.

However, global warming and rising levels of the Bay of Bengal compelled the temple to break its tradition.

On April 20, the women priests allowed five men to go inside the temple for a day after heavy flooding of the nearby Satabhaya village necessitated the relocation of the deities. The women priests were not able to move the five heavy idols carved in black stone, each reportedly weighing around 1.5 tonnes.

A group of five men went into the inner rooms to remove the idols, said one of the women priests.

The temple has been relocated to a new structurein Bagapatia, which is around 12 kilometres inland, and the priests have performed the 'purification' ritual.

Unlike any other temple in the country, Ma Panchubarahi temple, which locals believe protects them from natural calamities, is looked after by five Dalit women priests.

Only married Dalit women clean the temple and perform the daily puja, and there has been no exception in the last 400 years.

The village of Satabhaya is one of the worst hit in Odisha in terms of water erosion. Over the past few decades, rising water levels have cause large parts of the village, including villagers’ houses and properties, to get submerged. District records show the area has been reduced from 350 sq km in 1930 to around 140 sq km now.

(With ANI inputs)